A patent is a grant conveyed by the government to inventor giving the
inventor or his assigns art exclusive monopoly to preclude all others from
making, using or selling the patented invention for a period of time. In the
U.S. two types of patents are utility patents, which are given for inventions
and processes, and design patents, which are granted for ornamental designs. It
is possible for one product, to be covered by both utility and design patents as
each type of patent protects different attributes for the patented item.

A copyright protects works of authorship, which includes literary and
artistic works.

A trademark and a service mark are words, names or symbols used to
identify the source of goods and services, respectively. A similar sounding
and/or looking trademarks and Service marks may be held to lead to confusion in
the minds of the consumer and would thus be a violation of a federally
registered trademark and service mark, state registered or common law trademark
and service mark rights (which applies to trademarks and service marks that are
not registered but in use.)

Disclaimer: The
above information is intended (to be only of general information and is not
intended to provide legal advise for which legal counsel should be consulted.